Paul Gongaware - Day 1 Testimony

Michael in Bangkok August 24 1993

AEG Live co-CEO Paul Gongaware, whose career as a concert promoter started with Elvis Presley's last tour, testified on Tuesday about Michael Jackson's final days.

"I was working on the Elvis tour when he died so I kind of knew what to expect," Gongaware wrote in an e-mail to a friend two weeks after Michael died. "Still quite a shock."

Gongaware, who was one of the top producers of Michael's comeback concerts, is expected to be on the witness stand for several days in the fifth week of the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial.


AEG lawyers contend that Michael Jackson chose, hired and supervised Murray, and that his bad decisions were fuelled by a drug addiction their executives had no way of knowing about.

Brian Panish questioned Gongaware about his knowledge of drug use during concert tours. He should have been able to recognize red flags signalling Michael's drug use because of his experience with Presley, and his time as Michael's tour manager in the 1990s, the Jacksons contend.

This is something I also thought, because this man had worked with Michael on the 'Dangerous' tour, which had to be cancelled because Michael went into rehab. I didn't know until this week that Gongaware also worked for Presley on HIS last tour, before Presley overdosed.

"I kind of knew what was going to happen, yes," Gongaware testified. Panish then showed jurors the e-mail in which he made a similar statement.


When Gongaware was managing Michael's 1993 'Dangerous Tour', he warned the tour doctor "Don't be a Dr. Nick" -- a reference to Presley's last physician -- the doctor testified in a deposition.

"Dr. Nick was the doctor whose over prescription of drugs to Elvis had led to Elvis' death," according to a court filing by lawyers for the Jackson family.

Presley collapsed in the bathroom of his Memphis, Tennessee, mansion -- Graceland -- on August 16, 1977, at age 42. While his death was ruled the result of an irregular heartbeat, the autopsy report was sealed amid accusations that the abuse of prescription drugs caused the problem.

"Dr. Nick" -- Dr. George Nichopoulos -- said later he was treating Presley for insomnia. He was charged with overprescribing drugs to Presley, but he was acquitted. He later lost his medical license in another case.


Gongaware was with Presley's manager Col. Tom Parker when he first met Michael in Las Vegas, he testified.

The Jackson lawyers are using Gongaware's Elvis and "Dr. Nick" reference to argue that "AEG knew Jackson had suffered chronic substance abuse and drug dependency problems for many years."

"Shortly after he joined the 'Dangerous' tour in 1993, Dr. Finkelstein was asked to treat Jackson for pain," the Jackson filing said, referring to Dr. Stuart Finkelstein, a doctor on the 1993 tour.

"Having observed signs of opiate addiction in Jackson, Dr. Finkelstein nonetheless administered Demerol by injection, and administered morphine intravenously in Jackson's Bangkok hotel room for 24 hours."

After that, Finkelstein told Gongaware "he thought Jackson had an opiate dependency problem," the filing said.

"For three and a half months, the 'Dangerous' tour continued," it said. "Another doctor attended Jackson regularly, on one occasion breaking into Dr. Finkelstein's bag to get opiates to administer to Jackson. Gongaware was there the whole time, in charge of tour logistics, aware of the various physicians present, and he discussed with Dr. Finkelstein Jackson's opiate problem."

Seriously? A doctor broke into another doctor's bag in order to get opiates? Obviously there is nothing some of these doctors won't do.

When Gongaware warned Dr. Finkelstein, whom the brief described as his "close friend," not to become Jackson's "Dr. Nick," he was "warning me, you know, don't get all infatuated where you start administering meds to a rock star and have the rock star overdose and die on you," Dr. Finkelstein testified.

Despite working as a tour promoter for 37 years -- including for Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead and many others -- Gongaware testified that the only artist he ever knew that was using drug on tour was Rick James.

Gongaware is currently the tour manager for the Rolling Stones North American tour.



Jurors were shown several e-mails from Gongaware that Jackson lawyers suggested were evidence that AEG Live deliberately misled Michael about how much money he would make from his comeback concerts and how many days he would have to rest between shows.

Gongaware wrote to his boss, AEG Live President Randy Phillips, that they should present gross ticket sales numbers to Michael, not the percentage of the net profits, during contract talks. "Maybe gross is a better number to throw around if we use numbers with Mikey listening," his e-mail said.

He sent an e-mail to his assistant in March 2009 suggesting that she design a concert calendar for Michael using light tan colors for show dates, while drawing attention to his rest days.

"I don't want the shows to stand out so much when MJ looks at it. Less contrast between work and off. Maybe off days in a contrasting soft color. Put 'OFF' in each off day after July 8, as well. Figure it out so it looks like he's not working so much."

Under questioning Tuesday, Gongaware said he "wasn't trying to fool him. I wanted to present it in the best possible light."

Hmm. Yeah OK. You're not convincing me Gongaware!


Gongaware is also a key witness because he wrote what Jackson's lawyers call the "smoking gun" e-mail which they argue shows AEG Live executives used Murray's fear of losing his lucrative job as Michael's personal physician to pressure him to have Michael ready for rehearsals despite his fragile health.

Gongaware's e-mail to show director Kenny Ortega, sent 11 days before Michael's death, addressed concerns that Murray had kept Michael from a rehearsal the day before:

"We want to remind (Murray) that it is AEG, not MJ, who is paying his salary. We want to remind him what is expected of him." Gongaware, in a video deposition played in court on the first day of the trial, said he could not remember writing the e-mail. How convenient. 

"They put Dr. Murray in a position where if he said Michael can't go or can't play, if he said I can't give you those drugs, then he doesn't get paid," Jackson lawyer Brian Panish told jurors in his opening statements.

AEG lawyer Marvin Putnam said in his opening statement that Gongaware and other AEG executives had no way of knowing about Michael's use of propofol to sleep.

"AEG knew nothing about this decade-long propofol use," Putnam said. "They were a concert promoter. How could they know?"

Decade-long? Is there any proof that Michael had used propofol for decade? We know he used it in 1993 and 2009, but that does not prove he used it over a whole decade.

Gongaware will also face questions about an e-mail in which he seemed to question Michael's commitment to his "This Is It" tour.

"We cannot be forced into stopping this, which MJ will try to do because he is lazy and constantly changes his mind to fit his immediate wants," he wrote to AEG's Phillips.

Michael's makeup artist Karen Faye testified earlier abut an incident in which Gongaware became frustrated because Michael locked himself in a bathroom at his home, refusing to leave for rehearsals at the Forum. Gongaware was "angry and kind of desperate to get Michael to the Forum," Faye said.

She overheard Gongaware screaming on the phone at Michael's security guard, telling him "to get him out of the bathroom. Do you have a key? Do whatever it takes."

Jackson lawyers are also expected to ask Gongaware about e-mails he received that raised questions about Michael's health in the last weeks of his life.

"This Is It" production director John "Bugzee" Houghdahl wrote to him on June 19, 2009 -- six days before Michael died -- "I have watched him deteriorate in front of my eyes over the last 8 weeks. He was able to do multiple 360 spins back in April. He'd fall on his ass if he tried now."

Houghdahl's e-mail, titled "trouble at the Front" was written after Ortega sent Michael home from a rehearsal because of his strange behaviour.

"He was a basket case and Kenny was concerned he would embarrass himself on stage, or worse yet -- get hurt," Houghdahl wrote. "The company is rehearsing right now, but the DOUBT is pervasive."

I suppose Gongaware 'forgot' about this email as well? Is this how everyone avoids the truth these days?

UPDATED:

In an email that was sent on March 25, 2009,  Randy Phillips said 

"We need to pull the plug now. I will explain."

Gongaware denied that the email was a reference to calling off Michael's "This Is It" concerts in London but instead was pointed at "pulling the plug on Karen Faye," the singer's hairstylist, makeup artist and longtime friend who had expressed fears about Michael's poor health.

So by 25th March, 20 days after Michael had announced 'This Is It" concerts in London, Karen Faye was already expressing concerns about Michael's health. "We never talked about pulling the plug on the Michael Jackson tour, not that I recall.” said Gongaware, co-chief executive of AEG Live's touring division.

Faye testified earlier in the trial that she told tour director Kenny Ortega in June that she was worried Michael would die.

In another March 25, 2009, email, Ortega wrote Gongaware that it was Faye's "strong opinion that this is dangerous and impractical with consideration to MJ's health and ability to perform." 

So they were aware 3 months beforehand, that Michael may not be fit for the tour. Yet still they were using strong-arm tactics against Michael, to get his to rehearsal.